Robert Dillon

Sir Robert Dillon of Riverston ( – 1597) was an Irish lawyer, judge, and politician. He came from a family with a distinguished record of judicial service. He pursued a successful career as a judge, which was, however, dogged by accusations of corruption and other serious wrongdoing, of which the worst was that he had falsely condemned Nicholas Nugent, another judge and rival, to death. Sir Robert Dillon, the subject of this article, must not be confused with an earlier Sir Robert Dillon of Newtown (c. 1500 – 1579), his grand-uncle, who was also Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.